Alex Bailey
Alexandra Marie Bailey (mostly known as just Alex Bailey) is an original character from The Land of Stories series, ''and one of the two main characters of the series. Alex is a girl of school-going age (She turns 12 in the first book) from Our World who used to live in a small rental house with her twin brother Conner and her mother Charlotte. Her father, John Bailey, died shortly before she and her brother turned 11. After Charlotte married Bob, Alex chose to stay in the Land of Stories, while Conner and Charlotte moved into Dr. Bob's house in [[The Enchantress Returns|''The Enchantress Returns]]. Her family explained her absence by saying she went to live with her grandmother and attended a school in Vermont.TLOS III, ch 1, p. 15 Appearance "She was a pretty girl with bright blue eyes and short strawberry-blonde hair that was always kept neatly out of her face with a pink headband."''TLOS I, ch 1, p 12 Though she and Conner are twins, they haven't "looked like identical twins since they were four years old" and when "Charlotte stopped dressing them in the same outfits every dayTLOS II, ch 5, p 57". At the conclusion of [[Worlds Collide|''Worlds Collide]], in the future, though her hair had become white with old age, Alex was still a beautiful bright-eyed woman, and she wore a sparkling robe and a headband made of silver flowers. Personality Alex is described in ''The Wishing Spell'' as a bookworm, eager to please her teachers and impress her classmates. Because of this, she is often teased and made fun of behind her back, and spends her lunch breaks alone, reading. She is described as being very lonelyTLOS I, ch 1, p 14. It is likely due to her peers' jealousy that they isolate her for her genius. When she and her brother arrive in the Land of Stories, she is very excited to see all of the famous sites and meet her favorite "characters"; to the point of occasionally getting emotional over it because the fairy tales meant so much to her as a child. She feels that the fairy tales characters are her only friends. e their mother, she displays some magic, proving that she is "born with magic": she activates a portal, and successfully uses the Wand of Wonderment twice before it is completed (against the Snow QueenTLOS II, ch 17 and in the Troblin TerritoryTLOS II ch 22). She is also the only one who is capable of defeating the Evil Enchantress, albeit without magic. At the beginning of ''A Grimm Warning'', Alex put a lot of pressure on herself to become a proper fairy, to make herself worthy of the title 'Next Fairy Godmother'. When she met a boy she likes, she is very skeptical and introspective about it at first, because she is afraid any heartbreak might turn her into another Ezmia.TLOS III, ch 4, p. 75 This shows that Alex does not wish to harm people or to stray from the right path and is willing to put her responsibilities before her feelings. Her fear returns later when she is betrayed by Rook and lashes out at the soldiers attacking her; Conner reminds her that it was self-defense, and she is not like Ezmia at all.TLOS III, ch 28, p. 425 Even though Rook explains his reason for betraying her, Alex is unwilling to forgive him, showing that she can hold a long grudge. What happened with Rook made Alex even more resolute about placing her fairy duties before her feelings. When Alex is accepted into the Fairy Council, the other fairies explain that she has unknowingly passed their Inaugural Test of Courage (by having defeated Ezmia), Grace (by granting people's wishes even when faced with rudeness and ungratefulness), Kindness (by accepting Cornelius) and Heart (by her motivation to become Fairy Godmother), showing that she is a good person at heart. She shows exceptional leadership and magic skills in A Grimm Warning. Ever since she accidentally hurt the soldiers of the Grande Armée, Alex had been losing control of her magic more and more. Whenever she felt overwhelmed or angry, bad things happen to those around her. In chapter one of Beyond the Kingdoms, she levitated a tavern full of people high into the air and only barely manages to reign her magic in before she dropped it; she made the trees come alive to grab friends and foes alike, such as when she unconsciously attacked Cornelius because she was frustratedTLOS IV, ch 24, p. 331; when trying to squeeze Rembert for information on the Masked Man, she literally squeezed everyone with trees, including her friends.TLOS IV, ch 1, p. 39 Her out-of-control state is finally revealed to the Fairy Council when she is ungodmothered - she blasted fiery spells at the Fairy Council.TLOS IV, ch 3, p. 61 Conner, who was also present, admits that Alex's powers have been slipping out of control for months. The episodes affect Alex's memories, and she has difficulties remembering what happened after she calmed down. At the end of Beyond the Kingdoms, her "temper problems" are revealed to be caused by a curse, cast by the Snow Queen and the Sea Witch, in order to turn her into a weapon, so they could manipulate Alex and use her to their own evil ends. Alex was strong enough to fight off the curse, so the Snow Queen and the Sea Witch decided to ask the other witches to join forces with them to strengthen the curse. Relationships Alex and her twin brother Conner are very close, though Alex occasionally feels second-hand embarrassment for Conner's behavior at school or the things he saysTLOS I, ch 1, p. 17. In The Enchantress Returns, she comes to appreciate him more when he stays optimistic in the face of hopelessness and danger.TLOS II, ch 18, p. 310 At the end of A Grimm Warning, Conner offers to stay with her in the Land of Stories for a while to help her adjust to being the new Fairy Godmother. Alex is very upset with Conner for not being on her side at the 'ungodmothering', but they make up after Alex finds out the Masked Man is their uncle. In ''Beyond the Kingdoms'' when they were trapped in separate worlds, they both think of making the Portal Potion at the same time, proving once more that they "think like twins".TLOS IV, ch 30, p. 410 In A Grimm Warning, ''Alex has feelings for Rook but is unable to forgive him for betraying her and the royals. He helps her find the Masked Man in ''Beyond the Kingdoms, but she still feels the same way.TLOS IV, ch 10, p. 148 When she meets Arthur in Beyond the Kingdoms ''and spends two weeks with him in his world, they fall in love. She is tempted to stay in his world with him but knows she has to go back and save the kingdoms. She feels leaving him was the hardest thing she had ever doneTLOS IV, ch 28, p. 395, but knows that they will meet again one day. In ''Worlds Collide, Arthur and Alex stumble upon each other in their dreams and communicate. During this time, Alex was put asleep by the witches as they didn't have a use for her at the moment. Alex cries and warns Arthur that she won't be alive for long. This worries Arthur and after he wakes up, he tells Mother Goose and Merlin that Alex is in trouble. They refuse to believe him, so he goes to the sword in the stone and tries to complete his destiny early so Mother Goose would have no excuse to not let him visit Alex (they made an agreement that Arthur would be able to visit Alex after he achieves his destiny in An Author's Odyssey). After becoming king of England and creating the Knights of the Round Table, he comes to the Land of Stories with his Knights, Mother Goose, and Merlin in search for Alex. During his visit, He encounters Rook and the two fight over Alex forming a love triangle. After the war, he and Alex kiss. She puts their relationship on hold, saying that until Arthur finds the Holy Grail, they cannot be together. They say goodbye, but Arthur believes that this hold on their relationship won't last long since he is determined to find the Holy Grail in about two months. Alex was very close to her grandma, the Fairy Godmother. She misses her very much, and changed her appearance after her death, and refrained from using a wand for it reminds her of her grandma.TLOS IV, ch 3, p. 55 Story 1. The Wishing Spell Alex and Conner work as a team to solve the Wishing Spell's riddle and collect the items they need to return to their world. After defeating the Evil Queen, Alex finds out she is part fairy and is related to the Fairy Godmother. 2. The Enchantress Returns When their mother is kidnapped, Alex and Conner return to the Land of Stories. The kingdoms are under attack from the Enchantress, and Alex finds out she is a 'part' of the magic spell the Enchantress is trying to use to create a portal because she is the 'heir to the throne of magic'TLOS II, ch 24, p. 438. She and Conner assemble the Wand of Wonderment to stop the Enchantress. In the end, Alex manages to defeat the Enchantress, albeit with her empathy rather than her magic. When the gateway to her world closes, she chooses to stay in the Land of Stories to learn magic from her grandmother. 3. A Grimm Warning Alex is accepted into the Fairy Council and is immediately faced with difficult choices; her grandmother falls ill, making her Acting Fairy Godmother, and the Land of Stories is under attack from the Grande Armée and the Masked Man. She makes up a battle plan and, aided by Conner, convinces Trollbella and Elvina's armies to join their forces. Her magic rallies the armies together and helps save the kings and queens. After the battle, she becomes the new Fairy Godmother and founds the Happily Forever After Assembly. 4. Beyond the Kingdoms Alex has become obsessed with finding the Masked Man and is thrown out of the Fairy Council because of the obsession leading to her neglecting her Fairy Godmother duties. Upset, she flees to the Giant's Castle, where she finds Mother Goose. She promises to help Alex. Her grandmother sends her a magical moth to show her a memory of the Masked Man, revealing his identity. She meets Cornelius and Rook, who have discovered the Masked Man's hideout. Alex and Mother Goose return to their friends and the quest to find the Masked Man begins. They follow him into the books, first to Oz, then to Neverland and Wonderland. They are lead to believe the Masked Man has gone back to the Land of Stories and try to follow him, splitting up in two groups, but they have been tricked into going into the wrong books. Alex and Mother Goose end up in King Arthur's story. Alex falls in love with Arthur but knows she has to make the Portal Potion and save the kingdoms, so they must part. She travels back into the Land of Oz alone, meets up with her friends, and returns to the Land of Stories to find the Fairy Palace destroyed. She and Conner prepare themselves to travel back to their own world to build their own army to defeat the Masked Man. 5. An Author's Odyssey Alex and Conner travel to the Otherworld and collect Conner's stories from Mrs. Peters. They visit their mother Charlotte and have a family dinner with her and Bob. Alex travels with Conner into some of his short stories to recruit characters and form an army to fight the Masked Man, the Wicked Witch of The West, the Queen of Hearts, and Captain Hook, so they could save the Land of Stories. As they travel through Conner's stories he learns a lot about himself. Alex is very proud of her brother for creating such amazing worlds through his writing. Conner's characters are secretly taken to Charlotte and Bob's hospital to stay while they wait to travel to the Land of Stories. However, some doctors discover the characters, so Charlotte tells them that they are performers for a show that will be put on for the patients. Alex uses her magic to help the characters put together their show. When all of Conner's characters have been recruited and the show is over, Alex and Conner announce they are ready to go back to the Land of Stories and fight back against the Masked Man's armies. Alex goes to the bathroom, mistaking someone for Trollbella, and is attacked by Morina. Morina showers her with dust and Alex is cursed to feel nothing but anger. She then disappears with the entire bathroom. 6. Worlds Collide In Worlds Collide, she went on a rampage through the Otherworld, controlled by the witchesRevealed in Worlds Collide, page 96. The witches put her to sleep when they didn't need her, and since she is only controlled when she is awake, she tried to contact her brother in her sleep, so she could ask him to kill her. Unfortunately, she and her brother were never asleep at the same time, so she resorted to leaving messages in a place in the twins' shared mindscape, knowing Conner would dream of going there whenever he felt stressed. She did manage to contact Arthur once, and she warned him of the impending danger. Emotional moments are also capable of freeing Alex from control, though only for a brief amount of time. While still under the witches' control, a sniper shot at Alex, but hit Rook instead, who took the bullet for Alex and died. This caused Alex to lose control over her emotions and go on another rampage. When Conner learned that the US planned to use nuclear weapons to kill the invaders, Alex included, he wrote a short story in which their father never died, and entered it with her. The curse didn't work in the story, and Alex had a short and emotional conversation with her father, bringing her to tears and washing away the curse. Afterwards, she and all their friends worked on restoring the damage from her rampage, putting the whole world to sleep and burning the city with healing flames. Alex moved the bridge between worlds into her grandmother's fairytale book, and she and Conner visit the president of the US. They present the book to her for safekeeping, as it is safer with the president than in their mother's attic. In the epilogue of Worlds Collide, Alex magically appears in Conner's house to take him to the Land of Stories, to visit their friends. They disappear in a bright flash as Charlie watches on in awe. Quotes "I think what I've learned from all of this is that villains are mostly just people villanized by circumstance."''TLOS I, ch 22, p. 405 ''"I always wanted to be as loving as Wendy, or as curious as Alice, or as brave as Lucy, or as adventurous as Dorothy - I always saw a little bit of myself when I read about each of you."TLOS II, ch 27, p. 472 "That's the beauty of magic - there's really no science to it."''TLOS IV, ch 11, p. 161 ''"I guess that's a question as old as time, isn't it? Why do any of us let the world dictate our personal truths?"''TLOS IV, ch 24, p. 332 ''"My most educated analysis, with all means of science and technology in mind, is that it's magic." "You are in need of '''deep' psychological help."'' References Gallery Alex-tlos4.jpg CF4B0B17-EE65-4C44-AC94-126EC7B0E2A1.jpeg E0027DB5-2015-43B2-BBC6-D5F7081C7D2A.jpeg 7052DF08-61B8-4967-9B00-D64EF7CD4824.jpeg C135043B-1D5C-4BBE-A4C1-C408D82BBD1A.jpeg 7ED45A9C-8580-4C79-B0CA-DFEA53762530.png A89EAE9E-584F-48E3-BD69-3E350E52EC79.jpeg 2FA34429-8094-4A6D-82CB-85DF535C92B6.jpeg Category:Main Characters Category:Recurring Category:Our World Characters Category:Humans Category:Fairies Category:Twins Category:Fairytale World Characters Category:Major Characters Category:Magical Category:Sisters Category:Female Category:Adults Category:Otherworld Characters Category:Characters from The Wishing Spell Category:Characters from The Enchantress Returns Category:Characters from A Grimm Warning Category:Characters from Beyond the Kingdoms Category:Characters from An Author’s Odyssey Category:Characters from Worlds Collide Category:Heroes Category:Villains